


A Letter to Rose

by thatwritergirl



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-02
Updated: 2014-11-02
Packaged: 2018-02-23 20:48:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2555138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatwritergirl/pseuds/thatwritergirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eleven writes his last letter to Rose, but somehow, she gets it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own these things except for the words that don't involve the Doctor Who ones.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleven writes Rose a final letter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Doctor Who or its characters.

My Dear Fantastic Rose,

As I tell you this story, I want you to know that this is many years after my first meeting with Amelia Pond. Years, in a Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey sort of way, after the death of Amelia Pond and Rory Williams, who later became a Pond when he married Amy, as far as I’m concerned. There were lots of times I was alone. She was off being domestic with Rory and I was off doing Doctory things. I am writing this because I fear that it is the only way I can tell-all, because you know how my mind wanders. You know me better than anyone. Most of all, I know you’ll never see this.

So, there have been days, walking down the street where I would see things. These things were unsettling for sure, but mostly it was because of you. I had let you go with him, that other me. The one that looked and sounded and felt and remembered like me, but wasn’t physically me. You were off in Pete’s World doing your thing, and I was off in this world letting go of Donna. By the way, that was hard to do. I mean, yeah, she had her things and stuff, and she was a bit…AHHHH….with the Space Boy, but she was a good friend. Uh, there I go wandering. Apparently, writing doesn’t stop that from happening.

Anyway, I said my goodbyes to everyone I knew. I said my goodbyes to you before we had a chance to say our hellos, or rather, “Run!” You didn’t know who I was, and I told you that you would have a great year, and you probably thought I was a nutter, but oh well. It was worth it to see your face again.

I know you have him, me, us, whatever, and for that, I’m grateful. You fixed my angry self, and I know you fixed him too. I’m married now, by the way. River Song. Brilliant woman, really. Our timelines are a bit mashed up, but we try and sort it the best we can. Don’t get me wrong, I love her. I mean, I told her my name, as I’m sure your Doctor told you. There would only ever be one reason I would or could tell someone my name. I’m sure you know by now. I do trust her, and I do love her, but no one could ever be you, I’m afraid.

I swear, I did have a point to all this. Okay, so, one day during Amy’s and Rory’s domestic times and one of my Doctory times, I wandered off. That’s a dangerous thing to do, wandering. Especially for me. I get in all sorts of trouble. Just ask…anyone who’s has ever known me. Anyway, I saw this girl. She had that same purple jacket and beanie that you were wearing when I saw you the last time. She had blonde hair that ran down her back. I figured you’d gone loopy again. I said to myself, “Rose Tyler did it again. She’s put a big ole walloping hole in the universe again just to come see me. Why does she do that? I mean, she knows it’s bad and, she’s got the other one that looks like me when I looked like that and yet, she’s gone and done it again.” I smiled at the thought, really. Not the bit about you putting a hole in the universe, but the one about you coming to see me again.

I held my breath, walked up to you, tapped you on the shoulder and said, simply, “Rose?” The girl turned around and sounded just like you, and since I was looking down, you can bet that was a bit disconcerting.

“Hey,” she said. I looked up. “Sorry, mate, I think you got the wrong girl.”

“Oh,” was all I could say. “Sorry.”

“Naw, don’t be sorry. I hope you find her.”

“You were my last shot, I’m afraid, but thanks. Have a good one.”

She just waved as I turned around and made my way back to the TARDIS. I can’t believe I let myself imagine she was you.


	2. Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleven puts the letter in its usual spot and Rose writes a diary entry....and finds something interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The characters aren't mine.

After I finished my final letter to Rose (yes, there had been plenty after her departure), I decided I would go to the part of the TARDIS where past companions rooms were stored. After having so many, I should have guessed that this would take quite some time, even though I ended up in that room after I wrote each letter.

The TARDIS was always very fond of Rose, in particular. She and River Song were her favorites. River, because she was a Child of the TARDIS, or so Sexy said. Rose was the other favorite because, well, she was Rose. They were always very kind to each other, and I think ole Sexy appreciated the love and compassion that Rose possessed, especially for me.

As I walked into Rose’s old room, I felt a twinge of guilt. It was as if Sexy was somehow urging me to really take in the way this room made me feel, rather than just quickly walking in and out, like I normally did. The first thing I noticed, not having visited this room much when Rose was aboard, was the size of it. It was small compared to the other rooms I had seen on the ship, but then again, I remembered that the TARDIS always designed the rooms for the companions based on what they preferred.

The bed had a purple comforter and pillow case pattern set, and the bed frame was made of wood. Remembering that the wood was Norwegian, brought back the memory of my final time seeing her on  _Dålig Ulv Stranden_  or Bad Wolf Bay. I didn’t notice any other part of the room, because I made my way to the bed and sat down. I fiddled with the one-page letter in my hands and wondered why I wrote this one and the others in the first place. I knew she would never see them, never know how it felt to be without her. I would be the one and only man to ever know that feeling.

I stood up slowly, for fear of light-headedness and Sexy opened Rose’s nightstand drawer, just as she had done every other time I put a letter in there. I tucked the letter under the diary Rose left there. I never could bring myself to read her diary. It contained Roses’ special private thoughts, and it’s not as if she was dead. It just wouldn’t be right. I made my way to the Console Room, deciding to have a visit with River.

* * *

“So, whatja doin’, Doctor?”

“Huh? Oh, I’m just taking a look at this monitor. It seems to be a bit on the fritz. Ugh, come on!” He yelled and smacked it, like I did to the telly when it didn’t work.

I decided that I was in the way. He was annoyed, and if there is anything you needed to be wary of, it was an annoyed Doctor. I walked to my room. It was a small room, really. I decided that it felt more like my home at Powell Estate, and so I asked the interface for a small room with a purple bed set. I quite liked it because it was cozy and it had an en suite.

I had a diary that Mum gave me for Christmas the year before I met the Doctor. It’s as if she knew that I’d have all of these wonderful adventures and needed somewhere to document them. I didn’t have anything to write until then and I had, at this point, written about every adventure, good or bad. I think it must have been the best gift I’d ever gotten on Christmas.

I set my pillows up on the bed so that I could sit up and write about my day. I opened my nightstand drawer, grabbed my diary without peering inside, and closed the drawer. I had a pen stuck in the book where I had last written.

My latest entry was all about the Doctor’s regeneration and even though I had a hard time believing it was him, I knew who he was now. I saw it in his eyes.

This night I would be writing all about Cassandra, The Face of Boe and the Doctor’s funny string of “News” to describe the fifteenth New York. There wasn’t much else to say besides the fact that Cassandra decided to take over my body and now the Doctor knew I sort of like the way he looks. I mean, he has crazy hair and he’s a bit hyper, much more hyper than the one before. He’s less sad and depressed though. I like that a lot.

I started to get sleepy, so I opened my drawer to put my diary back in, but this time, I saw something white out of the corner of my eye. I looked more closely and noticed a stack of probably about three or four pieces of notebook paper. I knew that I didn’t put them there, and no one had this room before me and the Doctor never came in here for more than a second. I think it made him feel odd, as if he was invading my privacy or something.

I picked up the sheets of paper and noticed that they were all dated. They weren’t dated from yesterday or today, or even from the past week, which had been the last time I was in this drawer. They were dated from sometime in the future. Even in all of the weird things I had seen with time travel and that, the Doctor and I were living this time line sort of in a linear way. We would always have our internal clocks set to Mum’s primary time line so that we could go and visit and not have her worry for too long.

I felt a bit odd reading the letters, really. I mean, I hadn’t written them, and no one told me to read them, but they were all addressed to me, but from a time that hadn’t come yet in my timeline. These were dated years into the future. I was sort of afraid to know anything about their contents, but I looked at the first one anyway.


	3. Part Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose is upset, confronts Ten and Ten has a conversation with an old friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Doctor Who or its characters.

I got to the last letter and I was crushed. Who were Amy and Rory? River Song? Donna? What was this nonsense about him saying his last goodbyes? He was married to someone named River Song? What the Hell was I supposed to make of all this? It felt like a cruel joke the world was playing on me. From what I gathered, I was no longer with him, and he had regenerated…alone. After I left he met a couple called Amy and Rory, he travelled with someone called Donna and he got married to someone called River Song.

Another thing I gathered from this letter was that he loved me. He didn’t actually say it, but he was married, and he loved me anyway. I would need to ask what was going on, but I couldn’t keep my eyes opened any longer. I turned over and went to sleep.

* * *

 

The next morning, I sat up in bed and smiled. Then after the blissful few seconds before reality hits you, I remembered what I had read the night before. I got out of bed, took a shower and got dressed. I made my way to the Console Room, where the Doctor was sipping on a cup of tea.

“Mornin’, Doctor.”

“Oh, Rose! How did you sleep?”

“Okay, I s’pose. I just sort of found something and I want to ask you about it.”

“Oh, did you go snooping again? Yes, I have a stash of banana jam in the cupboard, way in the back, but I can quit any time I want, Rose, I can. But don’t make me, okay, because I really do love my banana jam.”

I couldn’t help but to giggle at his sudden and quite unnecessary confession. “That wasn’t it, was it? I’ve gone and told you things without you asking, haven’t I?”

“‘Fraid so, but trust me, there is nothing wrong with banana jam. I’m not judgin’ you in the slightest.”

“Okay, good. Now, what’s up, Rose Tyler?”

I knew talking to him about this meant that he would find out all sorts of things that I’m sure he didn’t want to know. He would find out that he would be, at some point, in the near future, regenerating and that he would be alone, me somewhere unknown, but with him. Another him, according to the letter. It was all very confusing.

“Well, I found this letter,” I said and handed it to him. The rest didn’t raise any suspicion with me. They just professed things and feelings he had had on several of our journeys, but nothing Earth-shattering.

He read the letter quickly and looked up at me, quizzically. “Where did you find this?”

“I found it in my nightstand drawer last night, along with three others. Do you see the date? It’s years from now.”

“I really, really, wish I could tell you, but I don’t know. It appears to be from a future version of myself, which isn’t good at all.”

“Why not?”

“Weell, it means that’s not supposed to happen. We are somehow crossing times with a future version of myself and this future me, has decided to spill the beans on all sorts of information that we weren’t supposed to know yet.”

“Oh, so it’s real?” I asked, noticing him ignoring the fact that we are separated, I’m with him, but not him, he gets other companions and he’s married.

“Appears so, but look, Rose, you should tear this up and never think about it again. Just forget everything you read, okay? You knowing what will happen in the future is not a good thing. You may try to change things, and that can’t happen.”

“I made that mistake once,” I whispered to myself. We went back to the day my dad died and saved him. That created some sort of monster thing and it was bad, “I learned my lesson the last time. And, Doctor, can you forget what you read?”

“Look, Rose. Things happen. I will eventually regenerate and you will eventually…go…and there will be other things that we don’t want to deal with, but it will happen eventually. I have to figure out how to fix this. You were never meant to see those letters and the future me made a big mistake in finding a way for you to see them. It shouldn’t have happened and I’m so sorry for that.”

“Okay.” I walked out and back to my room. As much as I care for him and what happens to him, all he cares about is that I would change it. Would it really be so bad, besides the obvious monsters and things?

* * *

 

I knew she was upset with me, but she had to understand the things she read are things that will happen regardless of if she tries to stop them or not. She may be able to stop it temporarily, like with her dad, but it will happen. These things are fixed points in time.

She didn’t think I was upset that I learned of my regeneration and of future companions. I couldn’t imagine having anyone else by my side except for Rose. She was my one. She saved me when I couldn’t be saved. She cared for me, she may even love me, judging by her reaction.

And married? Me? On what planet would that or could that ever occur? I mean, that was very domestic of me, wasn’t it?

I didn’t know what to do about this. It seemed to be the worst bit of information I’d ever read in my many years of life, but the thing that disturbed me the most, even more than the possible paradoxes that could happen due to this revelation, was the fact that Rose was only focused on the bad things. She wasn’t taking any mind to the fact that I pretty much told her I loved her.

I sat down on my Captain’s chair, and I heard her speak to me, “Doctor.”

“Well, hello there, Sweetness,” I thought back.

“Don’t ‘Sweetness’ me. You’ve upset her. I want you to march to her room, this instant, and apologize for upsetting her. I sent those letters to her because she needed to be told how you felt about her before it’s too late. You don’t seem to want to tell her. You’re too daft. Do you know that she tells you she loves you and you respond with, ‘Quite right, too’? Doctor, you will lose her. It won’t be because you want to or because she wants you to. It will be in the worst way possible. It will be irreversible and you will regret it. Instead of wasting time, you should have just told her. Now, do something. I will fix this, and even if neither of you remembers what happened, at least you did something.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I thought back to my TARDIS. She was always smart, if not a little tricky and rude. How would she fix this, I wondered. I knew she had her ways.


	4. Part Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor's favorite room makes an appearance and Eleven's wifey does too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Doctor Who or its characters.

I heard a knock at my door. I knew it was him, obviously, but I was upset. He would probably think this wasn’t a big deal, like my feelings didn’t matter.

“Come in.”

He opened the door and peeked in. It took everything not giggle a bit, because he gave me his adorable grin. I wasn’t giving this to him though. He wouldn’t get away with it this easily. Accusing me of making the same mistake twice, like a child. After seeing what happened when I saved my father, I wouldn’t do something like that again, no matter how tempting it was.

“Rose, I’m so sorry. I don’t want you to think I don’t trust you. I do. It’s just that with your dad…”

“I saw what that did, though, Doctor. People died, and it was my fault because I saved my dad. I know that now. If you regenerate and if we are separated, my feelings for you will never change.”

“Oh, yeah, Rose Tyler and what feelings are those?” He asked, sitting down on the bed next to me.

“Well…” I was cut off by his sudden reaction to…something.

“What the…” He looked down and pulled his psychic paper out of his pocket.

Opening it slowly, he read what it said, “'Hello, Sweetie.’ What does that mean? What is the meaning of this?” He shouted at the thin air in front of him.

“Doctor, who are you talking to?”

“My psychic paper. It says, ‘Hello, Sweetie.’ The TARDIS sometimes calls me ‘Sweetness,’ but I’ve never been called ‘Sweetie.’”

“Wait. The TARDIS calls you ‘Sweetness.’” I couldn’t help but laugh. It seemed so absurd. Other than the time I looked into her heart, I had never actually heard her speak.

“Yes, yes, yes. It’s sort of a telepathic thing. She doesn’t actually say it aloud, but yes, she does have a name for me.” Noticing the smirk on my face, he added, “Oh, don’t judge, Rose Tyler. I heard Mickey call you a few pet names when you were dating and you didn’t see me laughing…much. But as far as this message goes, I don’t know. There are coordinates here, but these lead to a room on the ship. I’m going to go check it out. Stay here!”

“No,” I said. I wasn’t staying here while he went off looking for something or someone that calls him Sweetie. “Not gonna happen.”

“Oh, fine, come on then.”

* * *

 

I knew the room that these coordinates led to. I had been there a million times. It was my favorite room on the TARDIS and anyone who knew me well enough, knew this. Someone possessing that knowledge about me needed to introduce themselves.

“Well, I suppose since this letter has been written and you found them, the future me won’t feel the need to write it, because we know what will happen now.”

I could see her disappointment, but I knew that it was best if I kept this whole thing in control and avoided writing any letters to her in the future. Obviously, even if I wrote something to make myself feel better, the TARDIS would find a way for Rose to see it. Possible paradoxes or not.

Rose and I walked for about an hour before we made it to the library. My library was the best library I had ever seen. It contained every book ever written, and some that hadn’t yet been written, and it had wall-to-wall shelves.

Large chairs and rugs decorated the middle of the floor. I never understood why the TARDIS felt that so many chairs were needed. At the very most, there were, maybe, five people on board at one time.

As soon as we walked into the library, I saw a woman with curly hair sitting on one of the chairs, the back of her head faced me. I opened my mouth to speak, but the words spoken didn’t come from me.

“Hey! What are you playing at? How did you get here?” I looked at Rose in surprise. She was more upset about this than I was and this was my ship being taken over by a woman with crazy hair.

“Hi, Rose. Name’s River Song. Not sure what I am these days. A doctor, a professor. Gets all jumbled really.”

I turned to the Doctor, “Oh, it’s the wifey, then. And, how do you know my name? I don’t know you.”

“Oh, but I know all about you and the Doctor,” she said.

“But, how? You haven’t met him yet.”

“Spoilers!” Switching her gaze to me, River Song stood up slowly and extended her hand for a shake, “Hello, Sweetie.”


	5. Part Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> River attempts to fix things and she finally gets what she's been waiting for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Doctor Who or its characters.

“About that. What’s with that?” He looked at me as though I had two heads. I hadn’t exactly forgotten what I was here for, but I loved the look on his face when he didn’t know who I was and it wasn’t time for me to tell him. It didn’t matter what his face looked like. The reaction was always the same.

“Spoilers!”

“Okay, then, Ms. Song, if it will give way to spoilers, then why say question provoking things?”

“I do love a mystery. Don’t you, Ms. Tyler?” I looked at her and she pursed her lips, showing a lack of amusement with me. “Okay, Okay. I suppose it won’t hurt anything. Considering.

"Doctor, I am your wife, as Ms. Tyler here pointed out to you. Not yet though, but some day.”

“Uh huh and how do I know this?”

“You saw the letter, didn’t you? Why would you write something that wasn’t true?”

“Anyone could have written that letter. Even you.”

“After, what is it, ten incarnations, your handwriting never changed. You know you wrote it, and I know you wrote it. Plus, I have a security blanket of information as proof,” I stared at him for a second, waiting for the revelation to take hold. “Care for me to elaborate, Sweetie?”

His eyes grew wide as he realized what I meant. The fact that I knew his true name. “The answer to the question he’s been asked a million times before, ‘Doctor Who?’”

“Don’t, River. Just don’t.”

“Oh, it’s River now, is it? We’re on a first name basis, are we?”

“I believe I got your point. Just don’t.”

“Okay, okay. So, this is Rose Tyler. Nice to meet you. Sorry about the little mix-up here. I’m just here to fix things.”

Rose appeared to be speechless, but managed to squeak out, “What does she mean? She knows your name? You’ve known me for a lot longer than you’ve known her, and even I don’t know that bit of information.”

“Rose, in her timeline, I’ve known her a lot longer and I can’t tell anyone my name unless we’re married. I haven’t told anyone. I haven’t even told her yet.”

“Don’t take it personally, dear. Great things are to come for you.” Of course, I was talking about the years to come in her timeline. It was to be many years before she would reap the benefits of the great things she had to come. There would be a loss, a regeneration, years of building and research, a discovery, another loss and then a lifetime of happiness. I felt sorry for her, in this moment, in particular, because even though she did have a great life ahead of her, she would suffer great misery and pain before that would happen.

“Yeah? And what might that be?”

“Spoilers!”

“Thought you’d say that. Is she for real, Doctor? I mean,” turning to me, “what are you doing here?”

“I told you. I’m here to fix things. The TARDIS, the precious girl, called me to fix what you’ve done,” I said and pointed at the Doctor.

Rose looked at the Doctor again. “The future me,” he explained.

“See, the next you, wrote a letter to Rose here. One of many as Rose discovered in her nightstand drawer. He sent, what was it, four letters to you?” She nodded in the affirmative. “He always placed them in the nightstand drawer after writing them, under Rose’s diary-”

“You have a diary?”

“It was a gift from Mum the Christmas before I met you.”

“May I finish?” I continued without waiting for an answer. “Under Rose’s diary and the TARDIS was tired of seeing you so sad and lonely,” I said gesturing to the Doctor. “Lonely mind you, and you’re married to me.”

“I am sorry about that. So very sorry. I don’t mean to hurt you.”

“It’s not the you now, and I understand how he feels. I’ve grown accustomed to dealing with it. Anyway, the TARDIS sent those letters through a rip in time in Rose’s room. It’s quite small and mendable with a sway of the sonic.” I pulled out my home-made sonic and showed them. “So, apparently, after my Doctor, the other one, wrote the last letter, he sent me a message wanting to see me. I thought it was just one of his normal get-togethers and it was, until I got there and noticed I was given coordinates to Rose’s room. I saw him peering into the drawer, and when he heard me there, he looked up and all he could say was, 'What have I done?’ I asked him what he meant and he explained that he had been writing you letters over the past several months and after he wrote the last one, he put it under the diary as he had done on several occasions. He made his way to the Console Room. While he was waiting, the TARDIS told him that she sent you the letters because you needed to know that he loved you, even after all this time.

"He got angry that she did that, because you know, paradoxes and all, and begged her to fix it. According to him, he went back to your room, the letters were gone, and that’s when he contacted me. He asked me what he should do, and I told him not to worry, that I’d fix it, because we can’t have him running into you, can we?”

“So, you love me, Doctor?” Rose said with a wide smile. He didn’t respond, but instead he looked at me.

“How will you fix this, River?”

“I have a little trick. I’ve met every face you’ve ever had thus far. Even this one, but not yet to you, I’m afraid. The reason you don’t remember is because of this.” I held up a spray-nozzle vial. “This is Mnemosine Recall-Wipe Vapour, and it will make you forget all of this.”

“Doctor, I don’t want to forget that you will love me. That’s the worst possible thing to forget,” Rose said, as tears welled up in her eyes.

“Rose,” I said, as I walked to her, smiled and took her hand, “there will come a time when he will tell you and it will be the perfect time. It will be a time that is right for both of you. Remember those great times I mentioned? That’s one of them. Trust me. If there is one thing that is worth waiting for, it’s for the Doctor to tell you he loves you. I’m still waiting for my time.”

“Can I have a minute with the Doctor, before-” she asked, nodding to the vial in my hand.

“Of course.”

* * *

 

I pulled him into my room and shut the door. By now, I knew we were miles away from the library, but I wanted to be sure she didn’t have supersonic hearing or something.

“Doctor, you know the letter I showed you?”

“Yes.”

“Well, you say in there that you love her. She’s not me, but you love her. She’s still waiting for her time. You are married and she is still waiting. Should she see the letter so that she knows? I know how it feels to love someone and not ever hear it back.”

“You have to say it first to hear it back.”

I smirked at him and continued, “Should I give it to her?”

“I know what you’re saying, but Rose, you heard her. She said it’s worth waiting and if he hasn’t said it yet, it’s probably because he doesn’t think she needs to hear it, that she already knows.”

“Not everything can be said with actions, Doctor. Us mere humans like words too.”

“I may not know her, but if there is anything about the woman I do know, it’s that she is not just a mere human and neither are you. I don’t think we should do anything. Just let it be and he will tell her when the time is right.”

It felt as though his words were explaining away the reason he hadn’t told me yet. He was waiting for the right time. The time River talked about. If there was anything I was sure off, River was right. Those words were worth waiting for.

* * *

 

Of course I loved her. I loved her from the moment I saw the compassion and love she showed for everything and everyone she met. She was mesmerized by all of this. She hadn’t grown bored of this life. The running, missing her Mum, of me. She was my Rose and always would be and that was confirmed in that future letter.

No matter what I was up to, what I looked like, who I was married to, she was still my Rose and I still loved her, even if I couldn’t tell her and even if we were about to forget all of what had happened today, in just a matter of 58 minutes and 10 seconds.

I looked at her and wondered if I should tell her, but decided against it. Why would the perfect time be when we were about to forget it.

I knew neither of us wanted to forget this day, but we both knew we had to. For no other reason than to keep things in order. If we both knew today that we loved each other, how would that alter the future? If the heart-wrenching truth a couple feels when two people are in love was enough to send the world off-kilter and create paradoxes beyond belief, then the love between the Doctor and Rose Tyler was meant to do much more than that. It was meant to be fantastic and brilliant and it would be, one day, but not now.

My mouth turned into a little smirk and I think Rose noticed because hers did too. It was as if we were thinking the same thing. There was no way to tell.

“I’ll race ya there.”

“You’re on, Rose Tyler.”

“One, two, three.”

“Run!” We both said at the same time.

* * *

 

Rose and the Doctor came back into the library about an hour later. I had been sitting on one of the many couches reading about the planet Clom.

Rose was out of breath and in hysterical laughter, her face red with exhaustion. The Doctor was laughing right along with her. “Have fun, you too?”

“Oh, yeah, we raced from my room all the way back,” Rose said.

“I won,” he said. “I didn’t have to stop every ten minutes to catch my breath.” He puffed out his chest and patted it with both of his hands, to point out that having two hearts helped with that sort of thing.

I rolled my eyes as I always did when the Doctor went on one of his superiority rants about being a Time Lord with two hearts. “I’m going to explain what is going to happen, okay?”

“Okay,” they both said.

“First, you two sit down on the couch. You may choose to sit on your own because you will end up lying down and I’m not too keen on having to move one of you to the other couch.” They both made their way to their own couch, facing each other, as I expected. “Then I will spray this in your general direction. You will pass out for a little bit, wake up and not remember why you are here or how you got here. I will do my best to remedy this by giving you a book and making you think you just fell asleep. I won’t be here when you wake up. Rose, the letters?” Rose handed me the letters, and I brought them to the burning candle on the coffee table near the couches. The paper began to curl and then turn black and fell off. I brought the remaining white sheet to the nearest bin and threw it in to let it finish burning.

“Are we understood?”

They both nodded. I walked up to Rose first, looked her in the eye and said to her, “Remember, if nothing else, you can remember that great things are to come. That doesn’t spoil anything. It’s just the truth. Hold on to that and take good care of him.”

“I will.” I sprayed her face, and she instantly fell off to sleep.

“And you, Doctor. You remember to take care of her. We will meet again, soon.” I sprayed his face, and as he nodded off, I whispered in his ear, “Goodbye, Sweetie.”

I made my way to the section of books that hadn’t been written yet. I chose “Summer Falls” by Amelia Williams. I knew now that Rose wouldn’t know that name, and I thought she would quite enjoy the subject matter. I opened it to chapter two and put it in her hands.

For the Doctor, I chose the book I was reading about Clom. He did like to catch up on his history of any and all planets.

I walked the hour to Rose’s room and opened her drawer to make sure nothing else was in there except for her diary. When I was satisfied with my lack of findings, I walked over the chest of drawers and moved them slightly out of the way. I saw the rip in question, took out my sonic and closed it. I replaced the drawers, took another look around the room and smiled, saying out loud, “See you soon, friend.”

I pushed a few buttons on my Vortex Manipulator, setting my coordinates to the TARDIS Console Room, several years after this one and felt myself being pulled to another time and place.

* * *

 

Before River left, I told her I’d be waiting for her in the Console Room. I knew she’d get the job done. Any job ever given to her, she got done, whether it was to kill me or to save me, giving up her remaining regenerations.

I heard the familiar crack of the Vortex Manipulator entering the room and I ran to her.

Before I could say anything, she said, “Hello, Sweetie. Job’s done. I’ve sorted it.”

“Brilliant. Now…”

Cutting off my sentence, “You know I never miss getting a job done, don’t you?” She said with a wink.

I blushed, because it was true. “Yes, well, yes. True, true. Now that that’s all sorted, what do you say for a trip to old Paris? A little dining and a walk under the stars?”

“Sounds great, my love.”

* * *

 

He set the coordinates on the TARDIS to Paris, France, The Café Terrace. He explained to me this was one of the places he took my mother, Amy, on their visit to France. That was also the trip in which my mother and the Doctor met Vincent van Gogh, who, in my opinion, was the greatest artist of all time.

His eyes lit up when he talked about past companions and it always made me happy, obviously, to hear stories he would tell about my mother and father, whether I had heard them before or not.

After we finished dinner, we took a walk down the streets of Paris. It was romantic. It gave me the feeling I had always when I was with the Doctor. This feeling always was the sole cause of my love for him intensifying and just served to make me an even happier married woman.

“Doctor, I’ve a question.” His look invited me to continue. “Why was it that you never told Rose how you felt? She deserved to know.”

“Oh, but River, my darling. He did tell her. He told her at the perfect time,” he said, echoing what I told Rose right before my departure. “He told her when it was right. He was starting a new life with her. It was a life I couldn’t give her, that meta-crisis version of me, of course. That’s why I wrote the letters, really. It was an apology and a hope that she did accept him for who he was and is, which is me. Don’t get me wrong. I do and always will love Rose, but he can love her in a way that I can’t. I told her that no one could ever be her, comparing the two of you, and that’s true. You are River Song and you’re brilliant. No one could ever be you and no one could ever be her. I wasn’t lying about that. Besides, I had other plans for my life,” he nodded to me, then went back talking to the air in front of him. “I didn’t know it yet, but I did.

"I can rest now though. I can’t speak to him or her, but I know she’s happy. I can sense it, River. I can sense it now. I couldn’t before though. I was blocked to that reality because I was afraid of what it meant. I was afraid it meant I was letting her go forever. Not just her, but him. The other me. I know now, though. I know what I did was right. He is part human and she is human. He can be that for her and I could never be.” He shifted his body to face me.

“See you and I. We’re different. You understand all this stuff. The time travel and the wibbly-wobbly and the things and stuff. You get it. You and I will always be okay. You are a Child of the TARDIS, after all. See, she needed more, but you and I. We get each other and that’s why I love you. You get me.”

I smiled. Daft idiot didn’t even realize that he had just told me he loved me for the first time. I grabbed him and pulled him into a hug and kissed him. “I love you too, Sweetie.” This was my perfect time and it was definitely worth the wait.


End file.
